<p><i> 15 minutes </i></p><p>Canada recently introduced patent rules related to excess claim fees and continued examination fees that have the potential to complicate conventional approaches to filing divisional patent applications. This article reviews the requirements for filing a divisional patent application in Canada, the impact of the new claim fee and continued examination fee rules on divisional practice and provides strategies for safely filing divisional applications while minimising patent prosecution costs.</p>
Canada recently introduced patent rules related to excess claim fees and continued examination fees that have the potential to complicate conventional approaches to filing divisional.
Historically, claim fees have not been payable at any time during the pendency of a Canadian patent application or term of the patent. This changed on October 3, 2022, and the present.
Amendments to the Canadian Patent Rules introducing excess claim fees will come into force soon. There are three possible approaches for minimising the number of claims and associated excess claim fees: cancelling claims, making use of multiply-dependent claims and consolidating the subject matter of separate claims as alternatives within a single claim. This article is part of a series of articles discussing options and best practices for minimising claim fees under the new rules.
The Canadian government has now announced that October 3, 2022, is the date on which significant changes to the Canadian Patent Rules, which we had previously reported, will come into.